Edison Menlo

[Namo]

I love it! This is the design I've been waiting for - and finally what seems to be a long grip section! And a "vacumatic" (ok, pump) filler...

By the way: where does the name come from?

 

[chad.trent]

I want one of these so bad. Obviously Brian can tell you better where the name came from, but if I had to bet I'd say here: http://www.menloparkmuseum.org/

[MKeith]

Wow, a modern day Vacumatic. The tortoise one with the ink window looks a lot like a Gate City. The ability to break it down is indeed handy, but since it is a Vacumatic it WILL require a $40 to $50 restoraton at some point. One thing I noticed was the section end (closest to nib) appears shaped exactly like the Bexley Corona's, which I consider the nicest I have seen or used. The Menlo looks very nice, and is custom built, but $350 and $450 apiece! Not for the faint of heart. For that price you can buy a real Vacumatic in pristine shape. But "to each his/her own". I would like Edison to someday produce a production line pen with a durable piston filler, or for that matter something other than a C/C filler at a price point for those of us that can't justify pens at this level. I guess for me I will have to stay satisfied in my world using my Bexley Coronas and genuine Parker Vacs. I give Brian alot of credit with his pens, He is always inovative, even though he for the most part has with this one just copied an 80 yr. old pen.

Edited August 2, 2013 by MKeith

[Edwaroth]

Thomas Edison's shop/office/home was in Menlo Park. I think it was also the first area to be lit using the electric light bulb.

Edited August 2, 2013 by Edwaroth

[Harlequin]

Seems kind of disingenuous to claim that no one else is making a vacuum filler. No one else is making a Vacumatic style plunger filler, true, but probably for good reason I'd bet.

[bgray]

The ability to break it down is indeed handy, but since it is a Vacumatic it WILL require a $40 to $50 restoraton at some point.

 

Thanks for the comments! In regards to the diaphragm long term....

 

In all fairness, what do you expect will happen to the orings, gaskets, and piston seals on other modern pens over 30+ years? These will also deteriorate. There's a reason that pen repair sites do not just sell sacs and diaphragms. They also sell orings, gaskets and replacement piston seals. This is simply a normal part of pen maintenance over the very long term.

 

We decided to make sure that this maintenance would be easy to have done by any of the pen restorers our there. They won't have to learn any new skills. And of course, this is assuming that for some reason, we are not here to service the pen.

Edited August 2, 2013 by bgray

[de_pen_dent]

Hi Brian - would you be eventually offering the 76 or the Huron with this filling mechanism, by any chance?

[hari317]

I really like the shape of the pen. very well done.

 

Regarding the filling system, It is identical to the bulb filler in filling principle, but offers no further advantage? The mechanism in this case occupies more space (plunger rod plus diaphragm Vs just the length of the Bulb) , so better ink capacity can be potentially realised with the bulb filler and a bulb filler is very easy to service and very long lasting esp with the new PVC and Silicone sacs that are available....

 

I am curious about the engineering design decision to stick with the latex diaphragm and the added machining complexity of making the tapered seat for the diaphragm on the barrel like in the vac. This filler system could also have been implemented with a short O-ring based piston-plunger with a spring return which runs in the top end of the barrel. More easy and faster to replace an O-ring. Just my thoughts.

 

Hari

[mhosea]

Seems kind of disingenuous to claim that no one else is making a vacuum filler. No one else is making a Vacumatic style plunger filler, true, but probably for good reason I'd bet.

 

The Parker Vacumatic filler is not a "vacuum" filler. In a "vacuum" filler, lower pressure forms in the ink chamber before it is exposed to the ink, not while it is exposed. As Hari points out, the bulb and Vacumatic systems work essentially the same way, just with a different way of forcing air out of the breather tube. If Brian did say that nobody else was building a vacuum filling system, it must have been a slip of the tongue when he actually meant "Vacumatic" specifically rather than "vacuum". AFAIK, it is a simple fact that nobody else is currently building pens using the Vacumatic-style system. IMHO, there is nothing even slightly disingenuous or misleading about saying so.

 

I'm not sure why Parker moved away from this system. Something tells me that if I bothered to go to Richard Binder's page right now it might tell me with respect to the Parker 51, which was introduced with Vacumatic and ended up with Aerometric. I would imagine that it was a cost reduction, as the Aerometric did not require the added expense of the plunger mechanism and the blind cap construction. I'm sure nobody else is making it now for cost reasons and because we are hardly in the golden age of fountain pens anymore. It's hard enough to sell enough of any FP to justify mass production. A small company like Edison Pen is probably the only company who could justify it, and I'll bet Brian's costs are higher on the pump fillers than the bulb fillers despite that he isn't charging more.

 

Edit: shortened.

Edited August 2, 2013 by mhosea

[stevekolt]

I ordered mine this AM. Blue and gold striated acrylic. My first Edison is a Beaumont Pneumatic in Briar Swirl Ebonite, and it is fantastic. Ordered this one to commemorate our move from NJ to WV (as soon as this house sells)...Go Mountaineers!

[bgray]

 

The Parker Vacumatic filler is not a "vacuum" filler. In a "vacuum" filler, lower pressure forms in the ink chamber before it is exposed to the ink, not while it is exposed. As Hari points out, the bulb and Vacumatic systems work essentially the same way, just with a different way of forcing air out of the breather tube. If Brian did say that nobody else was building a vacuum filling system, it must have been a slip of the tongue when he actually meant "Vacumatic" specifically rather than "vacuum". AFAIK, it is a simple fact that nobody else is currently building pens using the Vacumatic-style system. IMHO, there is nothing even slightly disingenuous or misleading about saying so.

 

I'm not sure why Parker moved away from this system. Something tells me that if I bothered to go to Richard Binder's page right now it might tell me with respect to the Parker 51, which was introduced with Vacumatic and ended up with Aerometric. I would imagine that it was a cost reduction, as the Aerometric did not require the added expense of the plunger mechanism and the blind cap construction. I'm sure nobody else is making it now for cost reasons and because we are hardly in the golden age of fountain pens anymore. It's hard enough to sell enough of any FP to justify mass production. A small company like Edison Pen is probably the only company who could justify it, and I'll bet Brian's costs are higher on the pump fillers than the bulb fillers despite that he isn't charging more.

 

Edit: shortened.

 

Thanks for saving me a lot of typing.

 

I'm not sure where I said it was a vacuum filler, or that we're the only company making a vacuum filler.

 

Quote from my website....

"Unless I'm mistaken, we are the only modern pen company offering this filling system."

 

I would have never called this a vacuum filler. Technically, every self filing pen utilizes a vacuum in one way or another. One could argue an ED, but this is not a self filler.

 

And if you want to classify what you are referring above as a vacuum filler, I actually think of those as plunger fillers. Some will argue them as the Sheaffer Vacuum-Fil system in some cases, but I think of them as plungers.

 

Thanks for the comments!

[bgray]

Hi Brian - would you be eventually offering the 76 or the Huron with this filling mechanism, by any chance?

 

Most likely this system will be available on every Edison Pen. At this point, I don't see any obstacles that would prevent this.

 

I will be able to get my brain around this more after DC, and I'll make an official announcement when I can.

 

If you are interested in another Edison setup as a pump filler before this announcement is made, just send an email. Thanks!

Edited August 3, 2013 by bgray

[bgray]

I really like the shape of the pen. very well done.

 

Regarding the filling system, It is identical to the bulb filler in filling principle, but offers no further advantage? The mechanism in this case occupies more space (plunger rod plus diaphragm Vs just the length of the Bulb) , so better ink capacity can be potentially realised with the bulb filler and a bulb filler is very easy to service and very long lasting esp with the new PVC and Silicone sacs that are available....

 

I am curious about the engineering design decision to stick with the latex diaphragm and the added machining complexity of making the tapered seat for the diaphragm on the barrel like in the vac. This filler system could also have been implemented with a short O-ring based piston-plunger with a spring return which runs in the top end of the barrel. More easy and faster to replace an O-ring. Just my thoughts.

 

Hari

 

Technically, any filling system that works with a breather tube share the same principle as this pump filler, or a bulb filler.

 

Compression and vacuum leads to more ink entering the pen than air leaving the pen. The net result of with multiple repetitions is filling the pen.

 

You are correct about filling capacity. Our bulb fillers offer more at 2.5mL due to the fact that the mechanism is higher. The pump filler offers 1.7mL due to the mechanism taking up some of this real estate.

 

In regards to your question about why not using an oring...and oring creates a lot of tension. I'm not sure just any spring would be strong enough to bring the mechanism back up. Especially if you use two orings, which would be safer. I'm sure that this could be done somehow, but I decided not to take this route. Maybe I will in the future, but the first obstacle that I see would be to find a powerful, yet compact enough spring.

Edited August 3, 2013 by bgray

[isaacrn]

Order placed for a demonstrator model

[MartDL]

I have just ordered a Menlo, and to my surprise, ordered a lovely, but simple, acrylic, when I was expecting to buy an ebonite.

 

There are many reasons to buy an Edison pen. They are excellently made, with an incredible quality of engineering, by a company that cares for it's customers, and will try out ideas that other companies wouldn't think profitable.

 

I wonder if people who love their "real" Vacumatics, but are doubtful of the merits of the Menlo, should maybe reflect on whether the original designers of this great mechanism would be upset that somebody "copied" their idea, or if they'd just be truly grateful that someone has kept their original vision alive, while Parker forgot about them long ago. I imagine they'd think the new materials and colours were also a total blast.

 

Martin

Edited August 5, 2013 by MartDL

[stevekolt]

Received mine today. Blue and gold striated with an EF nib. Inked it up with Iroshizuku tsuki -yo. Incredibly smooth nib, writes beautifully. Now to figure out which will be my next Edison...(my other one is a Beaumont Pneumatic in briar swirl.) For what it's worth, to my fairly inexperienced hands the Menlo is comparable in size to my Montblanc 146. Fit and finish is even better than I had expected/hoped for!

Edited August 6, 2013 by stevekolt

[MartDL]

Congratulations!

 

Sounds like you have a lovely pen. So lovely that I'm jealous!

 

Mine's in the post, which means I wont get it for two weeks. But now you've got me seriously excited

[Earthdawn]

Order placed for a demonstrator model

 

Thats the one I would LOVE to get !!!

 

Received mine today. Blue and gold striated with an EF nib. Inked it up with Iroshizuku tsuki -yo. Incredibly smooth nib, writes beautifully. Now to figure out which will be my next Edison...(my other one is a Beaumont Pneumatic in briar swirl.) For what it's worth, to my fairly inexperienced hands the Menlo is comparable in size to my Montblanc 146. Fit and finish is even better than I had expected/hoped for!

PICS pics PICS ... review ????

 

Congrats !!!!!

[chad.trent]

So heres a question...

 

Is the Menlo shape going to be available in other filling systems? I haven't decided if I want to use the vaccumatic or whatever it's being called, but I love the shape of the pen.

[bgray]

So heres a question...

 

Is the Menlo shape going to be available in other filling systems? I haven't decided if I want to use the vaccumatic or whatever it's being called, but I love the shape of the pen.

 

No problem with the Menlo being a Cartridge/Converter. It can't be a pneumatic, and I'm not sure about a bulb filler yet (but most likely yes). If you are interested, just send me an email.

 

Thanks!